Income and voting statistics do not lie.
Democrats and their allies, including socialist Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have spent the first few weeks of President Donald Trump’s second administration squawking about the threat of “oligarchy,” citing in particular the president’s friendship with Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and richest man in the world.
Oligarchies historically have featured rule by the wealthy few over the less-affluent many. In such cases, the few almost invariably have shared the same basic interest in preventing the many from rising.
Thus, to give them their due, Sanders and the Democrats have gotten it right for once. The United States in the early 21st century has morphed into an oligarchy of sorts.
But it does not resemble the oligarchy of which Sanders and the Democrats have warned. In fact, they would not want you to know the real oligarchy’s true nature.
Attentive Americans have long known that Trump’s political ascent resulted in a realignment of the political parties. Republicans, despite resistance from the old guard, have transformed into the party of the working class. Conversely, Democrats now function as the party of coastal elites.
But how does one quantify that realignment?
The simplest method involves finding out who has the money, where they live, and how people in that area voted.
For instance, on New Year’s Day, U.S. News & World Report updated its list of America’s 15 wealthiest counties. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the outlet ranked those counties by median household income.
Then, using the Associated Press’ handy state-by-state results for the 2024 presidential election, one may simply count the number of people in those 15 counties who voted for Trump, compare that to the number of people who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris, and see if the data suggests that the people who live in America’s wealthiest counties share similar political views and perceived interests.
In short, if the numbers tilt heavily in one direction or another, then we might have something resembling an oligarchy.
Counting Trump and Harris Voters in America’s 15 Wealthiest Counties: The Results
In America’s 15 wealthiest counties by median household income, a total of 3,863,906 people voted for either Trump or Harris. Other candidates, of course, received a handful of votes, but this analysis excludes them.
Of those 3,863,906 voters, 1,368,528 voted for Trump, compared to 2,495,378 who voted for Harris. In other words, voters in America’s 15 wealthiest counties chose the former vice president by a margin of nearly 30 percentage points (64.58-35.42).
As massive as that margin appears, however, it only begins to tell the story.
For instance, the top six counties on that list all have something in common. Namely, they are located either in Silicon Valley (#2 Santa Clara, California; and #3 San Mateo, California) or in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (#1 Loudoun, Virginia; #4 Falls Church, Virginia; #5 Fairfax, Virginia; and #6 Howard, Maryland).
Of course, Big Tech and connections to the federal government account for concentrations of wealth in those counties.
In 2024, 2,013,974 people in those six wealthiest counties voted for Trump or Harris. The president received 612,587 votes compared to 1,401,387 votes for the former vice president, a margin of nearly 40 percentage points in Harris’ favor (69.58-30.42).
Crucially, however, wealth alone did not determine one’s voting preferences. What mattered was the source of that wealth.
In fact, believe it or not, Trump actually defeated Harris in four of the 15 wealthiest counties. Those included #7 Douglas, Colorado; #8 Nassau, New York; #13 Hunterdon, New Jersey; and #14 Forsyth, Georgia.
If we add to this list #15 Summit, Utah, where Harris prevailed by fewer than 4,000 votes, then we have a group of five wealthy counties with one thing in common: they have no obvious or defining geographic connection to Big Tech or the federal government. No other counties on the list of 15 fit that description.
In those five counties — Douglas, Nassau, Hunterdon, Forsyth, and Summit — Trump earned 640,023 votes compared to 545,948 for Harris, a margin of early eight percentage points in favor of the president (53.97-46.03).
On Monday, the pollster Harvard CAPS/Harris released a poll showing Trump with a 52 percent approval rating.
Thus, the affluent residents of those five counties basically reflect the country as a whole. They hold different views and thus have no sense of shared political interest rooted in the source of their wealth.
Alas, the four remaining counties on the list most definitely have connections to Big Tech (#10 Marin, California, and #11 San Francisco, California) or the federal government (#9 Los Alamos, New Mexico, site of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, and #12 Arlington, Virginia).
If we combine those four counties with the six wealthiest, we get even more remarkable election results.
In Loudoun, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Falls Church, Fairfax, Howard, Los Alamos, Marin, San Francisco, and Arlington — ten of the 12 wealthiest counties in America, all drawing their wealth from Big Tech or the federal government — 2,677,935 people voted for either Trump or Harris in 2024.
The president received only 728,505 of those votes, compared to 1,949,430 votes for the former vice president. That gave Harris a gargantuan margin of 45.6 percentage points (72.8-27.2).
Conclusion
In sum, people in America’s wealthiest counties voted overwhelmingly for Harris.
While Trump had strong support in some affluent areas, extreme wealth amassed via connections to Big Tech and the federal government constituted by far the most reliable predictor of a likely vote for the former vice president.
Thus, Sanders and the Democrats might want to rethink their strategy of keeping the word “oligarchy” in the news. After all, income and voting statistics do not lie.
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